How to Import Books from Apple Books to BookShelves

Apple Books is fine for reading, but it doesn’t give you much control over your library. If you’ve been sideloading EPUBs and PDFs into Apple Books and want to move them to an app with better library management, metadata lookup, and format support, here’s how.

This guide covers finding your book files on Mac, importing them into BookShelves, and what to expect during the switch.

What Can Be Imported

Not everything in Apple Books can move. Here’s the breakdown:

The core idea: if you added a book yourself by dragging an EPUB or PDF into Apple Books, you can get it back out. If Apple Books delivered it (purchased or free from the store), it stays in Apple Books.

Step 1: Find Your Books on Mac

Apple Books stores sideloaded books in a specific folder buried in macOS’s Library directory. Here’s how to get there:

1. Open Finder
2. Click Go in the menu bar, then Go to Folder (or press Shift+Cmd+G)
3. Paste this path:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKBookstore/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books/

4. Press Enter

You’ll see a folder full of files with long alphanumeric names. These are your books — Apple Books renames them on import, but the files are standard EPUBs and PDFs inside.

Can’t find the folder? Apple occasionally changes the storage path between macOS versions. If the path above doesn’t work, try:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX/Data/Documents/BKBookstore/

Or search more broadly:

1. Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
2. Run: find ~/Library/Containers -name "*.epub" -path "*iBooks*" 2>/dev/null | head -5

This will show you where your EPUBs are stored, regardless of which macOS version moved the path.

Step 2: Identify Which Books to Import

Since Apple Books renames files, the filenames won’t be helpful. You have two options:

Option A: Import everything. If your Apple Books library is mostly sideloaded books, just grab all the EPUB and PDF files. BookShelves will automatically look up metadata (titles, authors, covers) during import, so the garbled filenames don’t matter.

Option B: Open individual files to check. If you have a mix of sideloaded and purchased books, you can Quick Look files (select a file and press Space) to see their contents. Purchased books with DRM won’t render properly in Quick Look — they’ll appear blank or show an error. Sideloaded books will display normally.

Step 3: Import into BookShelves

You have three ways to import:

Drag and Drop (Fastest)

1. Open BookShelves on your Mac
2. Select the EPUB and PDF files in the Finder window from Step 1
3. Drag them onto the BookShelves window
4. BookShelves imports the files, looks up metadata, and fetches cover art automatically

Folder Import (Best for Large Libraries)

1. In BookShelves, go to File > Import from Folder
2. Select the Apple Books library folder from Step 1
3. BookShelves scans the folder and shows you what it found
4. Deselect any files you don’t want, then click Import

Folder import is the best option if you have dozens or hundreds of books. It shows you a preview of what will be imported and lets you filter out duplicates that are already in your BookShelves library.

File Picker

1. In BookShelves, go to File > Import Books (or click the + button)
2. Navigate to the Apple Books library folder
3. Select the files you want and click Open

Step 4: Clean Up Metadata

BookShelves automatically looks up metadata for imported books — titles, authors, descriptions, and cover art. For most books, this works without intervention.

If a book has incorrect metadata after import (common with files Apple Books renamed to random strings), the metadata lookup usually resolves it based on the book’s internal content. Books that had missing or incorrect metadata in Apple Books often end up with better information in BookShelves.

What About iPhone and iPad?

Apple Books on iOS doesn’t expose book files to other apps. There’s no “Export” option and no way to access the library folder from the Files app.

Your best options:

• Import on Mac first. Follow the steps above on your Mac, then let BookShelves sync the books to your iPhone and iPad through iCloud (requires BookShelves Pro).
• Re-download originals. If you still have the original EPUB or PDF files (before you added them to Apple Books), import those directly into BookShelves on iOS using the Files app or Share sheet.
• Check your email or cloud storage. Many people originally received their sideloaded books via email, AirDrop, or cloud storage. Re-downloading from the original source is often easier than extracting from Apple Books.

After the Import

Once your books are in BookShelves, you get several things Apple Books doesn’t offer:

• Shelves. Organize books into custom collections with drag-and-drop.
• Highlight export. Export annotations as Markdown, JSON, or CSV — useful for note-taking workflows.
• More formats. If you have Kindle files (MOBI, AZW, AZW3) elsewhere, BookShelves converts them to EPUB on import. No need for a separate conversion step.
• Free book catalog. Browse and download thousands of public domain classics from Standard Ebooks and Internet Archive, right inside the app.
• iCloud sync. Books, reading positions, bookmarks, and highlights sync across your Mac and iPhone.

Do I Need to Remove Books from Apple Books?

No. Importing into BookShelves copies the files — it doesn’t move them. Your Apple Books library stays intact. You can keep both apps and decide which one to use going forward.

If you do want to clean up Apple Books afterward, you can delete books from its library without affecting your BookShelves copies.

Tips

• Keep your originals. Apple Books modifies EPUB files on import — it may strip metadata or alter formatting. If you still have the original files you sideloaded, import those into BookShelves instead of the copies from Apple Books’ library folder. You’ll get better results.
• Already using Calibre? If your books are managed in Calibre, import from your Calibre library folder instead. BookShelves also supports Calibre wireless sync for ongoing library management.
• DRM-free purchases. If you bought DRM-free EPUBs from independent stores (see our DRM-free ebook stores guide), those files import perfectly. Check your purchase history — many stores let you re-download your books.
• Looking for more options? See our Apple Books alternatives guide for a broader comparison of reading apps.